Time Travel And Art Mediums- A Ramble

This article is a little bit different to my usual articles, since it’s more of a short account of an eerie experience I had whilst editing the final page of this year’s Halloween comic.

Still, it seemed like it was worth writing about (since I imagine that some of you may be able to have similar experiences, and because I felt like preserving an account of the experience ).

About two-thirds of the way through making the line art for the final page of this year’s Halloween comic, my drawing pen ran out of ink. So, I looked through my stash of drawing pens and picked out a new one. However, I soon realised that this was a fine-tipped one (rather than the medium ones I normally use). At the time, I thought that this was kind of cool, since the thinner nib allowed me to cram more stuff into one of the more detailed panels.

However, when I was digitally editing the line art for the page, I suddenly saw the line art I’d made with the fine-tipped pen and, in that instant, the comic page suddenly seemed like it could have come from my early experiments with comics during 2010. Back then I tended to use fountain pens and fine-tipped pens regularly.

Even though quite a few years had passed, it suddenly felt like I was back in 2010 again.

It felt like I’d come full circle. It felt like I’d suddenly picked up a comic I had left unfinished in 2010 and had kept making it, like no time had passed whatsoever. The past few years felt like they just hadn’t happened. It didn’t so much feel like I’d travelled back in time, but more like I just hadn’t travelled forward since 2010.

My mind was suddenly flooded with ultra-vivid memories of both that year and the “atmosphere” of that year (this is the only way I can describe it). This was an experience that is difficult to really put into words. But it totally caught me by surprise.

And it all came from using a pen with a slightly thinner nib to the one that I usually use.

It’s amazing how something as simple as this can evoke memories. But, if you’ve been making art for a while, then it’s very likely that you’ve experimented with several different art supplies and/or art mediums over time. So, there’s a very good chance that the art supplies you used to use are more connected with your memories than you might think.

Ok, this might just be me. But, it’s certainly something that can take you by surprise.